


Young and Beautiful

by localshortkiddo



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: A lot of Flashbacks, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Angst, Champ is here but he's cool, F/F, F/M, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Nicole is in the foster system!, Slow Burn, Waverly swears like a lot, Wynonna Earp Is Not Oblivious, dare i say sexuality crisis, did I mention slow burn, everyone is a little gay, nicole and waverly have total heart eyes for each other, okay yep thats all
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-12
Packaged: 2019-06-07 13:26:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15220112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/localshortkiddo/pseuds/localshortkiddo
Summary: Nicole Haught has been in and out of foster homes her whole life ever since her mom and dad split up and left her on her neighbor’s doorstep when she was only seven years old. She’s never had a place to call home and as the years pass, she’s started to lose hope for ever finding a family who truly cares for her when one day, she receives a call that a family wants to take her in. Skeptical at first, she questions whether the family actually wants her and will treat her decently. However, once arriving at her new home, she realizes things are a little different then what she could’ve ever imagined. Her foster mom has cancer, her foster dad writes for the local newspaper and her foster brother is like nobody she’s ever met before. Then, there’s the girl who lives across the street in the yellow house with the prettiest smile Nicole has ever laid eyes on.





	1. Welcome to Purgatory

_The young girl stood in the horse stall brushing the tall stallion, her red hair braided in a French braid and a stetson on top of it. She was young, too young to understand what was to come. Sure, she had heard her parents fighting many, many times but that’s what everyone’s parents did. Or at least, that’s what her older brother had told her._

_She placed her hand on the horse’s neck, feeling a sense of peace with the complex creature. In that very moment, she wondered what it would be like to have strangers around you who you couldn’t share your feelings with._

_She heard a door slam from outside the barn and she winced. The horse clearly felt her tense up and moved its head around to look at her, waving its tail back and forth as well._

_The girl took the brush away from the horse and set it to the side, giving the horse one last pat on the back before shutting the stall door._

_Her cowgirl boots clicked against the floor as she walked to the barn door that was half open. She listened closely and heard the familiar sounds of her parent’s voices._

_Their voices were harsh, she could tell._

_Peering around the corner of the bar door, she saw her parents standing in front of the house, both of their arms were crossed._

_Little did she know, three days later her parents would be abandoning her and her siblings._

Nicole Haught sat there, leg bouncing up and down vigorously, her eyes glancing over to the clock on the wall every thirty seconds as if the time would magically go ahead a few more hours so she could finally be out of the situation she had been in way too many times before. She bit down on her bottom lip and ran a hand through her greasy red hair letting it rest just above her shoulders.

The redhead had done it yet again, stolen something from her new foster parents, thinking she wouldn’t get caught just this time, just this time she wouldn’t get caught.

She hadn’t even been with them for a month and here she was, sitting in the police station with her duffel bag right at her feet and her little stuffed bunny rabbit sitting on her lap.

These foster parents had been interesting to say the least, they had let so much stuff lie out as if they didn’t expect for a sixteen year old teenager who had been in the foster system for as long as she could remember to steal any of it.

The girl behind the desk who checked her in simply glanced at the redhead, then the duffel bag, then the bunny and back at the redhead before pointing to a chair and instructing her to wait.

Waiting, Nicole Haught had done a lot of waiting in the nine whole years she had been in the foster care system. Waiting for someone to finally want her, waiting for a family to keep her for more than two years, waiting for life to be somewhat normal and finally, waiting to turn eighteen years old to leave the damn system and try and live life on her own for once.

She yawned, trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes which as much as she wanted to work, it didn’t.

Nicole sat up straight in her seat, wrapping her arms around herself while taking another glance at the clock on the wall; she had been in the police station ever since ten in the morning, it was now eleven at night.

Shifting uncomfortably in her chair, she stretched out her long legs until they made a popping noise, satisfied with herself she stood up and walked over to the girl who had been sitting behind the desk since she arrived at the station thirteen hours ago.

Nicole smiled and waved shyly at the girl who hadn’t seemed to look away from her computer and barely even acknowledged the redheads presence. 

“Could I go to the bathroom, please...?” She trailed off, staring at the girl who didn’t even look up from her computer while she took a sip from her coffee cup, a very loud sip, one that Nicole would’ve normally yelled at someone for doing.

This action annoyed the redhead and she crossed her arms over her chest, just because she had been kicked out of her foster home for stealing didn’t make her any less human, she had to go to the bathroom, was there something so wrong with wanting to do that?

“I have my period, if I don’t go to the bathroom soon and clean myself up, then expect a huge blood stain on your chair over there, which may I add is super uncomfortable.” Nicole spoke, cringing to herself at how stupid the excuse sounded but she truly did need to use the bathroom, even if she really didn’t have her period.

The girl sitting behind the desk looked up at the redhead with a sort of look between disgusted and frightened and just shrugged pointing down the hallway. “Down that hallway, take a left and another left, you have five minutes, no less no more.” She looked back down at her computer and took another loud sip from her cup which caused Nicole to roll her eyes and turn around to start her walk to the bathroom.

Shutting and locking the door once she got there, she flicked on the light switch and looked at herself in the mirror. She pushed her glasses to rest on the bridge of her nose and studied the rest of her features. She had dark circles under her eyes and her eyes were glassy, clearly from the lack of sleep she was running on. Her hair was also a mess from not showering since last week. She was sure she smelled terrible but with a sniff under her armpit, she was surprised when the faint smell of flowers fill her nostrils.

Turning the sink on, she removed her glasses and placed them on the sink. She let the cold water run over her hands before cupping them and splashing her face with water. She did this multiple times before she finally felt a little more energetic and awake.

Slipping her glasses back on, she bounced up and down on the balls of her feet and bit down on her bottom lip looking down at her black combat boots that came up to her mid-calf; one of her first foster families had gotten her for her birthday. They were dirty and starting to fall apart slowly but surely but they meant the world to her.  Quick to shake her head and stop thinking about such nonsense, to think about the past was weak, she reminded herself.

Looking at herself once more in the mirror before she turned off the lights and made her way back to the very uncomfortable chair. She sat down and hugged her stuffed bunny closer to her chest, she didn’t remember much after that, except leaning her head back against the chair and soon dozing off.

***

Her eyes shot open, the feeling of her whole body being shaken startled her from her deep sleep and she immediately acted in self-defense, grabbing the persons arms who were on her biceps and pushing them away. Gritting her teeth together when she realized who was standing in front of her and that she actually wasn’t being attacked. She let go of her intense grip and apologized under her breath.

Something she had learned in her years of living in many different foster homes was how to protect herself from all sorts of situations. Surprisingly, she had been in this situation before and her first instinct was to push them away.

In front of her stood the police officer who had been the one to take her from her foster parents and into the station with a very, very shocked look on his face. He was nice to her and clearly understanding of the situation the day before so this current situation made her feel bad.

“I’m just going to pretend that what just happened, didn’t happen.” He spoke seriously, his arms crossed over his chest and a smug look on his face that made Nichole feel all weird inside.

She looked down in her lap and sighed, what a great impression on an officer of the law.

He gestured over to his desk which was covered in paper work,

“We just received a call around an hour ago, there’s a family who’s looking to adopt a kid and they seem to be interested in you.” The officer paused and seemed to shake his head from side to side.

“Why anyone would want a troubled kid, I have no idea but you’re lucky kid and so am I, because I really didn’t want to see you living at this police station for the rest of your life.” With one last shake of his head, he picked up Nicole’s duffel bag and threw it on her lap.

Nicole looked up at him, not fully awake so her eyes twitched a little and her mouth hung open, not able to process what the officer had just told her. Why anyone would be looking for a troubled kid who had been in and out of at least twenty different foster homes, she wondered.

“Are you sure you got the right girl, because the only time somebody wants anything from me has been… never.” She trailed off and looked up at the man with questioning eyes and he simply just shrugged in the douchey man kind of way; if he wasn’t an officer she would’ve without a doubt punched him square in the nose.

“Look kid,” he spoke, leaning down on one knee to look her in the eye which if she was being honest made her slightly frightened.

“I’ve looked through your history of being in the system, you’ve had tough shit thrown at you at such a young age and that sucks, but you have something really good that just came out of nowhere. I ain’t going to be that person who tells you to do this and do that but you better think carefully about this situation. These are good people who want to take you in.”

The words hit her way too intensely for her comfort, her heart sinking in her chest; an all too familiar feeling.

Her arms squeezed the duffel bag closer to her chest and she found herself nibbling on her bottom lip. Her thought process went to all the bad things, all the bad times, how this time wouldn’t be any different and this police officer was just telling her what she wanted to hear.

Her leg bounced up and down, she shrugged her shoulders and stared down at the ground, refusing to look the officer in the eye.

Most people didn’t understand what it was like to move from home to home, after a while, she just stopped having any hope for the future. After all she was sixteen and only two more years till she would be able to live life on her own.

“I’ll let you think that over, I’m driving you to their home in half an hour, gather all your things and… meet me by my desk.” The officer spoke, snapping Nicole out of her thoughts.

She didn’t exactly have a choice, the options were to go to yet another new family’s home or stay God knows where for two more years. Running her hand roughly through her greasy red hair, she put her face in her hands and tried to hide the tears that threatened to spill out of her eyes.

Nicole acted strong, she really did but there were moments where she did break and she really didn’t want it to happen in public. She huffed, puffing out her chest and pushing up her glasses, mentally telling herself that she would be able to make it. She had made it this far, who’s to say she couldn’t make it to another foster family’s home.

Her hand reached down to play with the bracelets on her wrist, this was something she found herself doing often. Whenever she was stressed or upset about something, she would either play with her hair or play with the bracelets on her wrist.

“Think of the positives that could come with this, you never know, Haught, maybe this house won’t be total shit,” She muttered under her breath, standing up and swinging her duffel bag over her shoulder and grabbing her stuffed bunny. She brought the bunny up to her nose and inhaled, there still seemed to be a trace of her mother’s scent after all these years but it couldn’t be, it was impossible.

Stuffing the bunny in her bag, she walked over to the officer’s desk and watched him pack up the paperwork and shove it in his bag, pick up his mug of coffee and start his way out of the building to the police cruiser waiting outside, Nichole following soon after.

Once the sliding doors opened and she stepped outside, her breath hitched when the cold air hit her, causing her to shiver. She made her way over to the cruiser, wrapping her arms around herself to try and keep warm. Nicole had never been a big fan of the cold, growing up in the country there weren’t many cold moments, they would work out on the farm in the heat for hours so she’d almost become immune to the heat. The cold however, that was a different story.

The officer opened the back door for her and she quickly slipped in, not able to smile or thank him for doing so, she just let out a small grunt and placed her duffel bag beside her with a small thud. Buckling herself in, she looked out the window as soon as the car jerked forward and they were headed off to yet another new place for the redhead to live. Her eyes fluttered shut, figuring she would take a nap on car ride there.

***

_All kinds of voices filled her head, the ones telling her she would never be enough. The ones that seemed to have an evil laugh that echoed through her head, her parents gave her up for a reason, she made everything worse._

_The coldness started at her toes and made its way up to her chest, her heart seemed to stop beating for a second and then, the sound of her heart pumping ever so slowly filled her eardrums and her eyes shot open as the smell of lavender filled her nostrils._

_She breathed out, her breath clearly visible in the air in front of her. The voices were still there, seeming to come closer as every second went by._

_Nicole turned around when the smell of lavender seemed to overpower everything and then, there she was, standing in her old house with her mother and father standing right in front of her. The old fireplace was lit right behind them, which filled the room with light. The voices had gone away and now the only sound was the crackling and popping of the wood._

_Her parents just stood there, they didn’t appear to have any emotions in their eyes, and they just seemed so cold even though the fireplace was radiating heat directly behind them._

_This was a dream and she knew it all too well, the old house, her parents looking at her, judging her and who she had become but she couldn’t help it. She would’ve been a good kid if her parents hadn’t given her up._

_Footsteps came from behind her and she felt the presence of another girl standing directly beside her. The girl was like Nicole, redheaded with soft brown eyes that had seen too many things at such a young age and a lanky figure, only this girl appeared to be much younger._

_Then, she heard another person’s footsteps coming from behind, yet this time the figure was a boy, he came up from behind Nichole and stood on her other side._

_The boy was older, dark brown hair that was a mess, dark brown eyes that were cold, similar to her fathers and hands, hands that had been taught one too many times what good and bad was._

_The three of the children stood there, they stood there for what seemed like hours. The three of them stared at the two older adults in front of them, the boy looking over his father and the younger girl, looking over her mother. Nicole, she stared into the fireplace, the color of it, the way it would soon die out if more wood or paper wasn’t added._

_Suddenly, the eyes of the adults changed, the mothers eyes changed to worried whereas the fathers eyes changed to disappointment and that’s when the younger girl spoke up, her voice cracking at first. “They left us all alone, we were fine until they decided we weren’t anymore, we were happy until they decided we weren’t.” She said, silence filling the house._

_The older boy let out a sigh, “he really hurt me, what kind of dad hurts their son just because he doesn’t become what his father wants.” With that, the boy put his hand on Nichole’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze before walking away. Nicole turned around but the boy was gone, nowhere to be seen and she gulped, looking over at the younger girl._

_The younger girl looked up at Nicole with sadness in her brown eyes, “I wanted to stay with you and our brother, but they didn’t let us. Why didn’t they let us?” Suddenly, the girl vanished leaving Nicole all alone with her mom and dad, the fireplace then went out as well._

_Everything was dark except for the moonlight that poured in through the windows and shone onto her parents faces. Nicole blinked, everything seemed to be frozen in time as her mother spoke, her voice raspy as if it was her final words, “I didn’t want to give you up, you meant everything to me, and you still mean everything to me.”_

_Her father finally moved and looked down at his wife before looking at Nicole with a simple nod. He looked like he was about to say something when she heard her voice being called from a very far place, her father opened his mouth to say something…_

Nicole woke up gasping for air, banging her head on the ceiling of the cruiser and cursing under her breath as the officer in the front seat slowly turned around to look at her but she just waved him off.

The road they had been traveling on went from extremely smooth to not so smooth to extremely bumpy, the entire car seemed to be bouncing up and down.

She groaned and rubbed her now very sore head and looked out the window to see nothing but dirt, grass and a few trees. The occasional development would pass by of a few houses or so and what looked to be farmland but that was it. She looked back to the officer who seemed to be focused on the road.

“Excuse me sir not to be rude or anything but where the hell are we going?” She asked, still rubbing her head, there was no way she was seeing this right, she must’ve hit her head really hard because not even an hour ago she was in the city and now they seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.

The officer chuckled and came to a stop at the red light. He turned around and raised his eyebrows, “you have bad dreams often? About your parents giving you up?” He asked Nicole, this question caused her to tense up. She knew she mumbled in her sleep and sometimes thrashed around but she was even more embarrassed now that an officer had heard all of it.

Plus, him mentioning it was out of line, her jaw clenched and she opened her mouth to tell him he knew nothing about her and her family.

Before she could respond the officer cut her off, “we’re just taking a back route, don’t worry, I’m not going to murder you… we’ll be there in about twenty minutes.” He said, turning back around just as the light turned green and pressing his foot on the gas.

Nicole sniffed and raised her eyebrows as she did so, she didn’t know whether the officer was trying to make a joke with her or not but either way, she was absolutely not impressed.

She leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest, looking back out the window.

The change in scenery was nice, it reminded her of her childhood and growing up on the farm. She hadn’t been out of the city in so long it felt very strange not seeing people everywhere. Yet, Nichole absolutely hated most people, so to be out in the middle of nowhere was beyond amazing.

***

Around twenty minutes later, the scenery had slowly started to change from very rural and almost no houses to slightly more urban; more and more shops had started to pass by as well as housing developments.

Finally, they passed by a sign that read, _Welcome to Purgatory, Population 8,000,_ and right below that, _you’ll never want to leave._

Reading that last part caused Nicole to turn her head back rather quickly, wondering if the last part was actually real, or just something her mind had made up.

Forgetting about the fact that she had hit her head only a few minutes ago after waking up from her dream, the action of turning her head didn’t exactly help with the minor ache in the back of her head.

Nicole shook her head and turned forward in her seat, never had she lived in a town that was so small or had an eerie name like Purgatory.

The cruiser came to a sudden stop, causing Nichole to fall forward in her seat, almost hitting her head on the seat in front of her.

Outside the window she saw a bunch of kids riding their bicycles across the street, laughing and talking, not even realizing that a car could’ve almost ran them over. Behind the kids was an older looking man and his wife, walking two dogs. The two of them were also laughing and smiling and both the dogs tails were wagging happily as if they didn’t have a care in the world.

The sight did not amuse the redhead, she knew all too well that families weren’t like this, the kids would grow up and leave the house, the pets would soon die and the parents would follow them.

The kids who seemed so happy now, who didn’t have a single care in the world, would soon be fighting with their parents and who knows, maybe they’d end up like Nicole.

She swallowed the lump that was in her throat that she didn’t even realize was there until the car started to move again.

Watching kids interact with their parents made Nicole think about all the memories she could have built with her father and mother but instead the only memories she had were the bad ones.

She should’ve been angry, she should’ve been upset with them for abandoning her when she needed them the most but if anything, she had grown much stronger because of it. Sure, she may have some issues, what kid didn’t have issues?

Thinking about the past made her head ache and her heart drop, the past made her body stiffen and made everything seem so much colder. She had memories, certain memories just like her dream, the memories portrayed a warm house with cold souls living in it.  

She was snapped out of her thoughts on the past when the car started to slow down as they turned into a housing development. The houses seemed to all be modern two story farmhouses with huge backyards with a white picket fence and swimming pools.

She exhaled the breath she didn’t realize she had been holding.

Most of her foster homes in the past had been small, messy and not very nice.

A small town with beautiful houses, the perfect place for a girl who had lived most of her life in the city to move, she thought.

The cruiser pulled to the curb just in front of a cream colored modern farmhouse with a wooden door.

This must’ve been their destination because the officer shut the car off and looked back at Nicole before opening the door and slamming it shut.

Nicole gulped, realizing her palms were starting to sweat and her leg was bouncing up and down for what seemed like the tenth time in a single day.

Moving to new foster homes always made her nervous, she thought by now she would’ve been used to moving from new environment to new environment but the truth was, she never got used to it. She never knew what would be beyond the door and what her new foster family would be like.

Maybe she was selfish for wishing every single time that the new family would treat her nicely or with some sort of respect.

However, looking at the house that the cruiser was parked in front of, any family who owned a nice home like this one, would either be extremely nice and understanding or rude and snobby about how rich they are.

Taking the chances that this family or even this town would be different, she opened the door and stepped out, the heat immediately hitting the back of her neck and causing her to choke slightly. The last time she had experienced heat this bad was back on the farm, back when she was four years old helping her grandpa on the farm.

She clenched her jaw and grabbed her bag, which was more like a body bag and swung it over her shoulder. She closed the door and looked around the neighborhood, most of the houses looked the same, however some were made out of wood, stone or brick and they had colored doors.

Some of the houses had little gardens out front and sitting chairs whereas others looked like nobody had once set foot on the property; there wasn’t even a for sale sign on the property. She found this super unusual, why would anyone buy a home and never stay there?

Looking down at what she was wearing, she suddenly regretted her outfit choice.

Her black skinny jeans with holes at the knees seemed to be absorbing all the heat from the sun and her navy blue flannel which was open to show her black tank top also seemed to be absorbing all the heat from the sun.

She felt like any typical emo teenager.

Of course, she had no idea and there hadn’t exactly been any warning that she would be moving to the freaking desert.

She chuckled, most of the clothes she owned were black or gray. In the city, most buildings were air conditioned and even so, when she was outside, most of the time she was covered by the shade of tall buildings or the trees that were planted on the small patches of grass on the sidewalks.

“Nicole Haught! Are you coming or do I have to drag your sorry ass up to this house?” She heard the officer shout from the porch of the farmhouse. She could practically see the impatient look in his eyes from where she stood.

Alongside the officer stood a tall man, who just like her father, had auburn hair that could be noticed from miles away. However, unlike what she remembered from her father, this man stood tall and proud, almost like he had his shit together.

The man was clearly in his late thirties or early forties because the wrinkles on his face were starting to show and his hair was slowly starting to turn a gray color.

Next to the man, stood a much younger boy who appeared to be around Nicole’s age and from a distance, he looked to be the same height as well. It wasn’t uncommon that she was as tall as boys her age, she blamed her family for their ridiculous height genes.

Taking a step forward, she pulled the duffel bag further up her shoulder and made her way to the front porch, counting the wooden steps that let out small little creaks, _1 2 3 4 5_ _6._

An even number, which seemed to make her very slight OCD happy.

She stood across from the man and the boy, who up close she could tell were almost happy that she was there, which was almost never the case in what she had experienced in the past.

The boy was defiantly handsome and just as she had predicted, he was just about the same height as she was. He almost looked exactly like her father had in high school from the photographs she’d seen as a little kid. 

_Maybe he’s your brother._

She shook her head quickly, she didn’t want to think about that, her siblings weren’t important to her anymore, neither was whatever memories she had of her biological family members.

Suddenly she heard the officer clear his throat and stand up straight, which made her roll her eyes so far, she thought they went back in her head.

“This is Nicole,” he said, gesturing over towards her and she let out a huff, she was fully capable of introducing herself to another person.

She hated that some people thought she was weak because of what she experienced in the past.

Her letting out a huff didn’t seem to go unnoticed by the boy who let out a quiet laugh, loud enough for the redhead to hear.

“Nicole this is your new foster dad, Rick. And your new foster brother, Peter.” He spoke very confidently, as if he had known the two of them for years or something. Man, the officer was really hard to hate.

The boy stepped forward and held his hand out, which Nicole took and shook his hand which lasted a little too long which made her uncomfortable. At least he had a strong handshake, never trust someone with a weak handshake, her grandfather had constantly told her when she was a young kid.

“You can just call me Pete, none of my friends or family really call me Peter.” Peter said, with a huge dimpled smile that reminded her way too much of her father.

She scrunched up her nose, Peter had assumed that she was automatically family and she didn’t exactly know how to feel about that.

A part of her was confused, he didn’t even know her and yet he somehow trusted her enough to call her a family member. The other part of her felt some sort of comfort, she had just been called family, which hadn’t happened in many years.

Maybe he was just saying that to try and make her feel welcome she decided on.

Next was her new foster father, who also held out his hand and Nicole took it, mostly because she had no other choice with a respected person of the law standing right there.

Couldn’t have a small action like that go on her record.

She already had enough on her record, unfortunately every time she had done something bad in her past foster homes, most of them called the police.

She couldn’t help she was a troubled kid.

The man’s hands were much calloused and his handshake wasn’t as strong as Peters, it was gentler and the handshake wasn’t as uncomfortable, it seemed to only last a few seconds before the both of them dropped their hands back to their sides.

She cursed at herself for being so weird, obsessing over a handshake was only something Nicole Haught would do.

Once their greetings were finished, her new foster father opened the door to the house and gestured for her to enter.

She glanced back at the officer who grinned at her and gave her a thumbs up before jogging back over to the cruiser that was parked at the front of the house. He opened the door, got in and before she knew it, he was driving off into the distance.

She stood there, suddenly feeling very alone even though her new family awaited her just through the door.

Suddenly, even though Peter and Rick had entered the house and were now out of sight, she felt as if someone else was looking right at her.

Nicole looked around frantically, her breathing suddenly got heavier and she heard a small noise a few feet away from her.

She gripped at her duffel bag and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw a squirrel scurry across the porch and look right at her, before running off and climbing up a tree.

Looking back into her new house, she let out a deep sigh and took stepped forward, entering the house and closing the door right behind her.

Little did she know, she had another pair of eyes watching her from across the street. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading this first chapter! i've been planning this story for a long amount of time and i finally got to writing it. this is my first ever fanfic so i'm sorry if there's any mistakes! kudos and comments are appreciated. see you soon for another update!


	2. The Girl Across the Street

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chapter two, here we are! this ones from waverly's pov. enjoy!

Waverly Earp glanced at the clock above the door for what seemed to be the tenth time in the past half hour. She groaned and ran her hands through her coffee colored hair, eleventh grade advanced chemistry with Miss. Stewart was the easiest class in the world, why had she even bothered taking the dumb class in the first place?

The teacher simply did not know how to shut up, she would go on and on about the subject and then go off on little tangents about how amazing her life was or whatever.

The notes on the board only took around fifteen minutes to write down and then, the rest of the class was spent listening to the teacher ramble.

She looked down at her notes and started to scribble little drawings of completely random things that had absolutely nothing to do with chemistry.

In the margins of her notes she drew little flowers, little animals and cartoon stick figures who were saying stupid dad jokes.

One of the stick figures said, ‘if you throw a can of coke at someone, it won’t hurt, do you know why?’ The other stick figure had a question mark over his head and the other went on to explain, ‘because it’s a soft drink!’

She let out a little giggle reading over it, she was funny when she wanted to be.

Suddenly, she heard the teacher change from a different subject that caught her attention.

“Everyone, tomorrow there will be a new kid coming to this class, her name is Nicole, treat her with respect just like I know you all do with all of your fellow classmates.” She paused, letting everyone let out a little chuckle.

Sure, Purgatory High was known for their academics and their high test scores, but the amount of bullying that happened on a daily basis was slightly terrifying.

Even more terrifying than what was happening at night time in the town of Purgatory.

She let out a small laugh but a part of her was excited, the high school was fairly small. The last new kid they had, ran away and still hasn’t been found.

It would be nice to see a new face in the hallways.

But then again she was scared, what if like the last new person, they just disappeared?

“Anyways, if any of you are interested in helping her catch up with this class, just let me know. In the meantime please read from page thirty two…”

Waverly blocked out what she was saying and began to pack up her things, maybe she’d step out of her comfort zone and help the new student out but the whole idea made her entirely too nervous.

She rarely ever stepped out of her comfort zone, this time wouldn’t been any different.

Waverly was a planner and helping out a new student was defiantly not part of her plan for the week.

The bell suddenly rang causing the brunette to jump slightly, throwing her backpack on her shoulders.

There were much better students who could help the new girl out, she thought to herself as she walked out of the classroom and into the busy hallways.

She didn’t mind school, she mostly went because she had to. She also had to prove that she wasn’t like her sister, yet nobody really believed that.

Unlike her sister, she actually tried to pass all her classes and unlike her sister, she wasn’t a raging alcoholic who took her problems out on literally everyone else but herself.

She bit down on her bottom lip as she walked out of the school, holding open the door for the person behind her because she had to be that nice person.

She was that nice person, even though her last name was practically a curse, she worked hard to be that girl, the girl who everyone loved, that girl who everyone wanted to be.

In fact, there was a vote on it. Waverly Earp was the town’s nicest person.

Looking down at her gray converse as she walked to her car; she didn’t feel like facing the world right now.

She tried to be happy and nice but she was always hurting inside and nobody really knew except for her best friend, Chrissy.

Chrissy Nedley had been by her side since the second grade, they were absolute best friends and nothing ever got in between them. They told each other everything and almost everywhere the other went, the other one followed.

Chrissy’s dad had always loved Waverly, he was like the dad she never had.

With her own dad dying when she was young, she had grown up with her aunt and her uncle, sure her uncle was a father figure but Chrissy’s dad seemed to be there for her more often.

He would always check up on her and since he was the town’s sheriff, if there was anyone who made Waverly feel unsafe, he would deal with them.

With junior year of school being so hectic and so busy, with studying and homework, they never really saw each other.

Even though the two lived so close to each other, the two never seemed to be home at the same time.

So when she looked up from her shoes to see Chrissy leaning against Waverly’s jeep, holding two coffees in her hand from the bakery just across the street, Waverly’s day had instantly been made.

She quickly ran and hugged the slightly taller girl who instantly hugged her back.

Pulling away, Waverly smiled when Chrissy handed her a cup of coffee. With a silent ‘thank you’ she took a tip and instantly threw her head back, one cream and one sugar, not too warm but just warm enough; just the way she liked her coffee.

“I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages, what’s new in your life, are you doing okay?” The other brunette asked as she walked around the jeep and got into the passenger’s side.

Waverly opened the door to the driver’s side and plopped down on the seat, sliding her backpack off her shoulders and throwing it somewhere in the back of her vehicle.

The two of them were sad when they had found out they didn’t have a single class together this year. Both of the girls had always had classes together and some years, they had every single class together.

This year, they didn’t even have lunch together.

She sighed and ran her hands through her hair, thinking of ways to reply to Chrissy who was giving her a concerned look.

She wanted to be honest, she really did. She wanted to tell her about how she hadn’t seen her sister in two years and God knows where she was. She wanted to tell her that recently she’s become much more anxious over small things and how lonely she feels.

But wasn’t this normal, did most people go through this?

“Nothing new has happened, just school. I’m fine.” She swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat and started her car, taking another sip of her coffee before putting it in the cup holder.

She truly was fine, she was just lonely.

Except for the fact that she had just lied, Waverly was not one to lie about her wellbeing, she was usually super open about it.

Especially towards Chrissy.

As she reached to the steering wheel, Chrissy grabbed her hand, not forcefully but gently.

Waverly looked anywhere but in her eyes until Chrissy squeezed her hand.

“I can see it in your eyes, Waverly Earp. Something’s bothering you and as your best friend, I’m letting you know I’m here, for whenever you want to talk.”

She looked up into Chrissy’s eyes and bit down on her bottom lip, she had truly missed being around the other girl.

Waverly hated that she was growing up and couldn’t do anything about it.

They would soon be going off to college and the thought scared her half to death. She had been in the town of Purgatory her entire life, with the same people and the same atmosphere.

Even if college was more than a year and a half away, she was still petrified.

Waverly suddenly looked away from Chrissy, trying her best to hide her emotions by sitting up a little straighter and puffing out her chest.

“I’ve just been thinking about the future a lot, you know how it is…I don’t know where I want to go yet, I don’t even know if I want to go. If I go anywhere, I don’t know how I’m going to survive without seeing you and my family.”

She frowned, she had finally sort of got the words off of her chest but it wasn’t all she had wanted to say. Opening and closing her mouth a few times she decided against telling the other girl of how lonely she was, that was for another time.

She heard Chrissy’s voice from right beside her after a few moments of sitting in complete silence.

“I understand what you’re going through, I feel the same way,” She heard Chrissy’s voice crack at the end and Waverly felt her stomach drop.

Waverly looked out the window at the student parking lot, almost everyone had gone home and a few cars were left, probably from students who were in sports.

“I miss Wynonna, Chrissy.” She admitted, turning back in her seat to look the other girl right in the eye.

“Wynonna has been gone for almost two years, it’s probably why the town has been so quiet, you know?” Waverly continued, finally placing her hands on the steering wheel and pressing her foot on the gas, pulling out of the school parking lot and onto the bumpy road.

Chrissy got quiet and let out a quiet hum of agreement, taking a sip from her own coffee.

Her sister and Chrissy had a very interesting relationship, one minute they would love each other and then the next they would get into some disagreement which would cause Waverly to pick one side.

She would usually pick Chrissy’s side and then Wynonna would run away for a few days before coming back and apologizing.

She always thought Wynonna had some little crush on Chrissy because Wynonna would always ask to hang out with the two of them.

Or, heaven forbid, Wynonna actually wanted to spend time with her little sister.

Sadness filled her eyes as she remembered the one time the three of them went to the movies together and got into trouble because they had a popcorn battle.

Before she knew it, she had pulled up in front of Chrissy’s house and she blinked a few times, trying to get rid of the past memories of her sister. Wynonna was a grown ass woman, it was her choice to pack her bags and leave her family.

“Do you think she’ll ever come back, Waves?” Chrissy asked as she opened the door and picked up her coffee, a hint of sadness in her voice.

The question struck the brunette by surprise and she pursed her lips in thought. The longest her older sister had ever been gone was four years and when she came back, she promised she would never leave after that but she did.

Wynonna sure knew how to hurt people without feeling anything.

“She’s been gone longer than this before, she always comes back.”

With that, Chrissy nodded and waved to Waverly before closing the door and jogging to her front steps.

Waverly watched her enter the house and saw Chrissy’s dad step out and smile at Waverly before following his daughter into the house and shutting the door.

She let out the breath she didn’t realize she had been holding and leaned back in her seat.

She shut her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, why did her family have to be so goddamn difficult.

Inhaling deeply she opened her eyes and looked at the clock on her dash, realizing she would probably be yelled at for being so late she practically stepped on the gas pedal and sped back home, knowing her aunt would be there questioning where Waverly had been.

***

Thankfully, the drive from Chrissy’s house to her own home was only two minutes or so.

When she arrived, she quickly parked her car and grabbed her backpack from the back of her jeep. Making sure her jeep was locked she practically sprinted to the front door and dug for her keys in her front pocket.

Once she got them out of her pocket she rushed to open the door and quickly walked into the house, closing the door behind her.

There stood her aunt, arms crossed and one eyebrow risen.

Normally her aunt was nice and caring, she always made sure to look after Waverly and always took care of her. However, she did have to establish some rules because nobody else was there to do so.

“Explain to me why you’re half an hour late, without a call or even a text because believe it or not, your old aunt knows how to use her smartphone.” Gus said, scrunching up her nose and waiting for Waverly’s explanation.

Her aunt, despite her age, was smart when it came to technology.

Waverly sighed and dropped her backpack on the tile floor, shrugging her shoulders.

“Chrissy wanted to talk to me about some things, the two of us haven’t really talked in a long time.  With finals coming up in about a month and all the studying we’re both doing, it’s been hard to spend time with her.” The brunette smiled at herself, she hadn’t stuttered over a single word and she spoke the truth.

Gus nodded and held her hands up in the air. “Sorry for accusing you of doing something, I know you’re nothing like your sister but a part of me has to question you sometimes, leftovers are in the fridge. I’m going out on a little date with your uncle, keep your phone on you, I’ll be back in a few hours.”

Waverly frowned, she didn’t want to be alone but she wanted the two of them to go out for a night, they deserved it.

Her uncle was always hard at work, only ever coming home for dinner and to get some rest before leaving again early in the morning. Her aunt was the exact way, running the diner downtown meant she was almost always busy with costumers.

Gus walked by her and gave her a kiss on the top of the head before walking out of the house, turning around to smile at Waverly and then shutting the door right behind her.

There stood the brunette, alone in her house in the complete silence.

She sighed, picked up her backpack and ran up the stairs, two stairs at a time before face planting in her bed and letting out what sounded like a groan and a sob.

Homework would simply have to wait.

***

Waverly wanted to try and sleep, she really did but for some reason, she couldn’t stop thinking about her sister and how much she oddly missed her being around.

Wynonna had left two years ago out of the blue, without a word to her aunt, uncle or her little sister.

Passing by her room everyday sent chills down Waverly’s spine and she didn’t dare enter her older sister’s room for the fear that she may find something or even worse, find nothing.

Whenever Wynonna had disappeared, Waverly would be itching to just open the door to her sister’s room and just take a quick peak but she never did.

However, tonight it was all the brunette could think about.

She paced up and down the hallway, the devil and the angel were on her shoulders, one told her to enter whereas the other told her there was no way she should enter.

Groaning, she gave up and practically sprinted downstairs to grab a drink of water, almost falling down the stairs because the entire house was completely dark.

She switched the kitchen light on and smiled when she saw the small fish bowl sitting on the counter with a small goldfish swimming around happily when it saw Waverly.

The fish was technically Wynonna’s when she won the creature at the fair almost seven years ago. Waverly didn’t know much about fish but she was sure the thing was not supposed to live this long.

Wynonna’s fish, Cheeto (which was a pretty hilarious name and it would forever be) had basically become Waverly’s fish because she was the only one who ever took care of it.

She chuckled and picked up the fish food, dumping a little bit in the bowl, watching as the goldfish swam around in circles and quickly ate up all the food.

She wondered what it would be like to be so unimportant and carefree, living in a small bowl your entire life eating cheap food and swimming in circles.

Shaking her head, she turned around and walked over to the cupboard, stepping on her tippy toes to reach a glass, she cursed herself for being so short. She stretched her legs a little more so she could reach the glass.

Walking over to the sink, she started to fill her glass with water and looked out the window, noticing a cop car parked outside of the house right across from hers.

That was odd, those people were rarely ever home, why would the cops be there, she thought.

Taking a closer look, she realized the cop car didn’t say Purgatory Sheriff’s Department, instead the cruiser appeared to be all the way from Calgary which caused her to raise an eyebrow. Calgary was a good five hours from here, why in the world would a Calgary police officer be in the small town of Purgatory in the middle of the afternoon?

Maybe it was Wynonna, maybe Wynonna was in the cop car but no, that couldn’t be possible.

“Shit!” She cursed rather loudly, realizing that she had been standing there for a good three minutes and now basically her entire arm was covered in water and her glass was very, very full of water.

She mentally face palmed herself and turned the water off, wiping her hands off and chugging the glass of water in one sitting.

Sitting the glass in the sink, she walked towards the front door and slipped her high top, very worn gray converse on and opened the front door, sitting down on her front step.

She wrapped her arms around herself and watched, almost what felt like in slow motion as an extremely beautiful redheaded girl stepped out of the cruiser and swung a duffle bag over her shoulder.

The girl clearly was not from around here, seeing as she was clad in black jeans and a flannel, along with combat boots and she was very pale, Waverly could tell from where she sat.

Around this time of year, almost everyone wore shorts and t-shirts, springtime in Purgatory was very humid, dry and scorching hot.

The poor girl must’ve been dying in the clothes she was wearing.

Waverly quickly shook her head, realizing she had been staring the entire time and she found herself becoming bright red for no reason.

Looking down in her lap, she tried to think about past experiences she had with the neighbors across the street. She knew the woman who lived there had recently been diagnosed with cancer and was in the hospital until further notice and the man who lived there was rarely ever home.

She remembered seeing a boy coming in and out of the house sometimes, she knew he was a senior this year but that was all. She had never seen him in the hallways and saw him maybe once or twice a month mowing the front lawn but other than that, the neighbors were complete strangers.

Looking back up, she made a mental note to ask her aunt and uncle about them later.

She watched as the girl shook hands with the man and the boy who lived there, she also noticed how a police officer was standing right next to the girl which was very odd.

The brunette watched as they shook hands which made her even more curious, why they were all shaking hands and why in the world was there a cop who appeared to be watching the redheads every move?

Waverly realized how dumb she probably looked, she was sitting on her front step and was practically stalking the people across the street because she simply had nothing better to do.

She sighed and took her phone out of her back pocket and started to reply to some text messages she had received in the past few hours before scrolling through Instagram and laughing at funny cat videos because she was that person.  

She pressed her lips together and looked back up after looking at her phone for a good amount of time.

The redhead stood now alone on the porch, she appeared to be very scared and looking around rather quickly, almost like she was scared or something.

Goddamnit, she had probably noticed the brunette was staring and now felt like she was being watched.

Gulping, Waverly looked back down at her phone to stop her from staring at the other girl but she just couldn’t.

The sun was setting and the light was shining right on the redhead, making her look angelic and Waverly’s jaw almost dropped to the ground.

Even from a distance, the girl who she didn’t even know, was the most beautiful thing she had ever laid eyes on.

However, the moment was soon ruined when the redhead entered her house and shut the door behind her. Literally not even a minute later her aunts blue and white 1992 ford f150 pulled into the driveway, blasting some country song and she could see her uncle laughing in the passenger seat.

The sight brought a smile to Waverly’s face and she decided it was probably time to go inside, seeing as once the sun set, the air would become much colder.

Glancing behind her shoulder across the street she saw a light turn on through the second floor window and she pursed her lips before turning around and entering her house, determined to find out more about the mysterious girl as soon as she could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for reading! this chapter was slightly shorter than the upcoming ones will be, i'm sorry for that! obviously this chapter was from waverly's pov, i'm thinking of alternating between nicole's pov and waves but we'll see. kudos and comments are well appreciated, i'll see you guys very soon for an update!


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